Pawl and ratchet device



March 1936- J. H. REBSTOCK v PANEL AND RATCHET DEVICE Filed March 10, 1934 Patented Mar. 31, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PAWL AND RATCHET DEVICE Application March 10, 1934, Serial No. 714,902

2 Claims.

This invention relates to railway dump car door operating mechanisms of the type shown and described in U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,390,333 for Door operating mechanism, granted September 13, 1921, to Minot C. Blest, and has for its object the provision of a pawl for use in such type door operating mechanism.

A further object of the invention is to provide the operating lever or socket with a reversible pawl, which pawl when in one of its preferred positions is held against accidental movement.

These and other objects will be apparent from the following description in which the following drawing is made a part thereof. Fig. 1 of the drawing is a section taken through a railway car at the side sill, illustrating the operating lever or socket of the door mechanism and its associated reversible pawl; Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the pawl; Fig. 3 is a section taken on the lines 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 shows a modification in the design of the pawl.

Referring now in detail to the drawing where like reference characters refer to like parts, reference character I indicates a portion of a railway car having a floor 2, side sill 3, transverse underframe member 4 connected to the side sill and supporting a bearing plate 5. Within the bearing plate 5 is a door operating mechanism shaft 6 having mounted thereon an operating lever or socket l and a ratchet 8, the ratchet 8 being mounted upon the shaft in fixed relation thereto and between the arms 9 of the lever. Secured between the arms 9 by means of a pin I is the pawl H and so disposed relative to the ratchet 8 as to have one of its ends selectively engage the teeth of the ratchet as the operating lever is rotated upon the shaft 6. The outer end of the lever is provided with a socket l2 adapted to receive an operating member.

The pawl H is provided with a slotted intermediate portion l3 and oppositely disposed toothed portions H1 at the sides thereof for engagement with the teeth of the ratchet. At each side of the slotted intermediate portion are bearings l shaped to embrace the pin ID in the operating lever. Projecting within the slot l3 and between the bearings I5 is a portion l6 provided with an arcuate inner end. This portion l6 serves to prevent accidental shifting of the pawl relative to the lever I. The upper face of the pawl outwardly of the portion I6 is preferably provided with a concave face to provide free passage past the ratchet 8 as the pawl is shifted from one bearing IE to the other, and the lower face I! of the pawl, beneath the slotted portion, is preferably made convex to provide weight in that portion of the pawl for a purpose which will be hereinafter set forth.

Referring now to Fig. 1 of the drawing, with the pawl in position relative to the lever l as 5 shown, it will be observed that the greater portion of the weight of the pawl is to the right of the bearing surface l5 engaging the pin l0 so as to rotate the adjacent toothed portion into engagement with the teeth of the ratchet 8. In this 10 position it will be observed that as the lever l is rotated in a clock-wise direction upon the shaft 6, the pawl l l engaging with the ratchet 8 rotates the shaft 6 in a clock-wise direction. When it is desired to rotate the shaft in the opposite direction the pawl is manually moved to the left to bring the bearing on the right side of the slot 13 within the pawl l I into engagement with the pin ll] of the lever I as shown in dot-and-dash lines on Fig. 1 of the drawing. It will be observed that with the pawl in this position the major portion of the weight of the pawl l l is to the left of the pin, tending to rotate the toothed portion adjacent the pin into engagement with the ratchet 8. With the pawl in. this position, when the operating lever is rotated in a clock-wise direction, it will be observed that the pawl rotating on the pin ID will ride free on the ratchet, but when the lever 1 is rotated in a counter-clockwise direction the pawl will engage with the ratchet and rotate the shaft in a counter-clockwise direction.

From an inspection of Fig. 2 of the drawing it will be obvious that the portion l'l serves to retain the pawl ll upon the pin ID in all positions of the lever 1. In Fig. 4 of the drawing, illustrating a modification of the pawl H, the portion I! is omitted and the weight of the pawl is depended upon to retain it in position.

Having thus described the invention what I 40 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a device of the character described, the combination with an operating shaft, a ratchet wheel fixed to the shaft, an operating lever mounted on the shaft for rotary movement relative to said ratchet wheel, and a pawl bearing pin on the lever; of a pawl comprising spaced teeth, a wall joining the base of the teeth, the said wall being disposed between said ratchet Wheel and pin, an abutment depending from the wall between the teeth, bearing surfaces for said pin at each side of the abutment and below said teeth, whereby when either bearing surface engages said pin and the adjacent tooth of the pawl engages with the ratchet, the said tooth and ratchet will become locked together solely by the force of gravity actingon said pawl.

2. In a door operating mechanism, in combination, a rotatable shaft, a toothed ratchet wheel mounted. on the shaft for movement therewith, an operating lever mounted on the shaft adjacent the ratchet for rotation relative to the shaft and ratchet, a pawl bearing pin secured to thelev'er adjacent the ratchet, a pawl disposed between the ratchet and pin comprising spaced ratchet engaging teeth joined by a wall having an abutment thereon intermediate said teeth, and oppositely disposed thereto, bearings for said pin disposed on opposite sides of the abutment and adjacent said teeth, said pawl, when either hearing is engaged on said pin, rotating freely as the adjacent pawl tooth moves over the ratchet wheel teeth when the lever is rotated in one direction, and when the lever is rotated in the opposite direction 'the said adjacent pawl tooth and ratchet become -locked together solely by the force of 10 gravity acting on said pawl.

JULIUS H. REBSTOCK. 

